Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said today that state sales tax revenue in January totaled $2.47 billion, down 4 percent compared to January 2015.
“As expected, reduced spending in oil and gas-related sectors resulted in a fall in total sales tax revenue,” Hegar said. “Collections from industries mainly driven by consumer spending, including retail trade, restaurants and services, continued to grow, as did receipts from the construction sector.
“I would also note the sales tax collections in January 2015 were a record high and represented a double-digit percentage increase over January 2014, meaning this month’s collections are being compared to unusually high collections from a year ago.”
Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in January 2016 is down 2.8 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Sales tax revenue is the largest source of funding for the state budget, accounting for 56 percent of all tax collections. Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes, motor fuel taxes and oil and natural gas production taxes also are large revenue streams for the state. Below are total collections from those taxes in January 2016:
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motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $380.6 million, down 3.9 percent from January 2015.
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motor fuel taxes — $291.6 million, up 1.4 percent from January 2015.
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oil and natural gas production taxes — $193.4 million, down 45.1 percent from January 2015.